An uptick in early-season NFL trades led some analysts to anticipate a busy trade deadline. Instead, the deadline passed Tuesday afternoon with no major deals.

ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter joined John Hansen on SXM Fantasy Football and talked about the inactivity at the trade deadline, breaking down why Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon was not traded despite weeks of rumors to the contrary.

They felt like he’s too much of an ascending player. If you look at his numbers this year, he’s second in the league in average yards per catches, he’s sixth in plays over 25 yards. He projects to second in yards if he had played all eight games in receiving yards. His production is in the top five wide receivers in the league. I think if you’re the Browns, you got to give those fans some hope and excitement. Josh Gordon does that and that’s one of the reasons they decided not to deal him.

Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald also stayed put at the deadline. His head coach, Bruce Arians, joined SiriusXM NFL Radio to address earlier trade rumors.

Larry’s a professional. The one thing he knows is how we feel about him. He’s going to retire a Cardinal. I don’t know where [the trade rumors] came from. We love him to death and he is the face of the franchise.

So why aren’t more trades executed in the NFL Bill Polian explained on SiriusXM NFL Radio.

You have to have room under the salary cap to accommodate anyone that you acquire. At this stage of the season, teams that are in contention – and that involves half the league roughly – also have to [keep room under the cap] because they have to count for injuries that may occur down the stretch.

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